


With Great Power

by AlynnaStrong



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Canon-Typical Violence, Everybody Lives, F/M, Genre Savvy, M/M, NO DEATH
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2019-02-28 09:38:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13268730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlynnaStrong/pseuds/AlynnaStrong
Summary: Brienne Tarth lives an ordinary life in an extraordinary city.  West City has the highest concentration of super-powered individuals per capita in the world.  When she is repeatedly attacked for mysterious reasons, the Golden Family steps in and uncovers some shocking revelations.





	1. Welcome to West City

Brienne left her apartment with plenty of time to get to work early. As a fresh college graduate, she wanted to make a professional impression in her first weeks on the job. Budgeting travel time in West City took some practice. Mondays were always unpleasant for subway commuters as everyone was grumpy about heading into another week and didn’t particularly feel like sharing space. Around mid-month, transit delays were common as the city’s disaster-related budget ran into the red, and they needed state approval for further expenditures. Every 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th, the Septilicon would strike. West City residents knew how to plan around these minor inconveniences.

The worst day of the month to attempt travel, without question, is today. Not only is it a Monday past mid-month, but it is the Monday after the latest issue of _Create!_ came out. The magazine, catering mainly to low-budget, home laboratory-based supervillainry, presents modest, practical blueprints suitable to form the basis of many an evil scheme. After devoting a sleepless, stimulant-soaked weekend to its contents, a broad selection of new scourges of mankind would try their luck. This month’s issue had focused on Genetic Engineering which was, frankly, irresponsible.

Brienne made her way out of the subway station trying not to apologize for her large body having taken up so much space. She cut through an alley toward her place of employment, Stark Predictive Solutions. The correct but uninspiring message ‘Winter is Coming’ rotated in yard-high letters on their marque. Her job as a junior fact checker wasn’t glamorous, but it paid a solid starting salary and came with excellent benefits, including insurance against becoming lost in time and space. How many of her pals had gotten zapped with some ray only to pop back into existence months later already evicted from their apartments? Wasn’t going to happen to her.

She felt a painful jab as something penetrated her arm. A thug with a giant hypodermic needle was trying to draw her blood! She punched out wildly to drive him off, but another two men grappled at her arms. She tried to throw them off, but a fourth pinned her legs.

“Just hold still, damn you. I only need a little.”

“No! Leave me alone! Help!” Crying for help didn’t often work here, as ordinary citizens tended to run the opposite way, assuming grave danger and not wanting to become a hindrance. However, there was still the occasional hero with enhanced senses who might be scanning the area.

Shockingly, she seemed to be in luck. Brienne heard her assailants cry out as a sword made of pure light interposed itself between her and them. It slashed down, cutting through the arm of the man holding the syringe. It didn’t seem to do any damage, but he screamed as if his arm had been severed. The sword slashed left, then right, causing the other attackers to scramble away from Brienne. The one with the syringe fled into the subway. The others collapsed, clutching nonexistent wounds. Brienne had been touched several times by the…blade(?) but it hadn’t caused her any pain.

“Thank you,” Brienne said, looking up into the radiant visage of the floating Jaime Golden. She kept her eyes pinned to his face because his skin-tight, white uniform left little to the imagination. He wasn’t the one who could read minds, but her thoughts tended to reveal themselves plainly in her expression.

“You’re very welcome. I enjoy a tussle first thing in the morning. Gets the blood flowing. I mainly rescue beautiful maidens, but I suppose one can’t have everything.”

Brienne had absorbed so many unflattering comments about her appearance that his barely registered. Her self control was still at war with her eyes, which wanted to drift down his form, taking in every bulging muscle and perfectly proportioned part.

“One got away, I’m afraid,” her self control won, forcing eye contact as she spoke.

“Regrettable, but I’m sure these three will prove dim-witted enough to give up their hideout. The Noble Alliance will have this wrapped up in short order, Miss. Do you need an escort to your building?”

“No, thank you. I can see it from here, and I’m sure you scared anyone else away.”

Jaime nodded goodbye and flew off with the three crooks tucked under his arms. Cersei could pull their motives in attacking the young woman out of their minds. It was probably nothing specific to her, though, just a random attack. He sighed. It was that time of the month, wasn’t it? One of these days, he was going to accidentally drop one of that magazine’s misbegotten creations onto their printing press. Surely that was all this had been about. He was unlikely to need to follow up with the woman on the results of the interrogation.

Brienne remained slightly star-struck from the encounter for the rest of the day. Most of her acquaintances were not so impressed. They thought Jaime Golden should have slunk off in disgrace after killing the Mad King. Brienne wasn’t so sure she agreed. The villain had threatened to destroy all of West City! Killing him by accident was a completely understandable result. She just wished he’d have said it was an accident, rather than plead the Fifth on the advice of counsel. Still, the case had been dropped and only the whiff of scandal remained. Heroes should have perfect self control, after all. He seemed thoroughly honorable to her, is all she told everyone. Of course, she was sure she’d never see him in person again.

They were both wrong.

 

Cersei Golden had a surprising amount of trouble forcing her way into the minds of the captives Jaime brought to the Keep. Usually henchmen crumbled like a box of saltines sat on by Sam Tarly, but there were blanks in their minds. Most notably, they didn’t know who hired them. Their leader – the one who’d gotten away – had a contact number, but the others had been kept in the dark. They knew of no hideouts or safehouses. The only information they could share was the limited nature of their mission.

They had been specifically instructed to look for people of classically Andal appearance and draw their bone marrow for analysis. (The Andals, of course, were the superpower-enhanced humanoids who’d arrived hundreds of years ago and interbred with the native First Men. They were of an entirely different bloodline than the Valyrians whose magic-based powers tended to warp their minds). Jaime supposed the woman, Brienne, met the description, though her form hadn’t been as pleasing to the eye as the Andals he knew best. His own family was heavily Andal - one might even say a bit too heavy, with all the first cousin marriages.

“I suppose we should warn her,” Jaime said. “She does rather stick out if one is hunting for heavyset towheads. What do you suppose they want with inactive Andal DNA?”

“Perhaps they’re trying to find a way to inactivate ours as well. If they could turn off our powers, imagine how much easier life would be for these science maniacs,” Cersei replied.

Jaime flew down to find the woman as she left work. He hovered near the Stark building and scanned the crowd. He didn’t think it possible to overlook someone with such peculiar appearance. Finally, he saw her step out of the main entrance, buttoning up her coat against the chill. He noticed her confident stride and how she hadn’t allowed the events of this morning to derail her schedule. So many others would have gone home and spent the rest of the day in bed. She must be either highly motivated or unbearably stubborn.

He lowered himself into her sightline. “Bet you didn’t think you’d see me again so soon,” he said. Usually with a citizen, he’d carry on with a bit of flattery to charm her and put her at ease. There didn’t seem to be much he could find to praise, however. He’d just gotten around to noticing the extraordinary blue of her eyes and was working on a fitting compliment when those same eyes rolled up into their sockets and fluttered closed. She fell forward into his arms with a blow dart sticking out of the back of her neck.

Jaime heard a series of vile curses emerge from behind a nearby building. He must have arrived just in time to foul up a second abduction attempt. He gave chase, but the clever villain jumped down an open storm drain to make his escape. Jaime would have followed, but the woman lay helpless and unconscious behind him. There could be other conspirators in the vicinity who would carry her off if he allowed himself to be drawn away.

With no better idea, he bundled her into his arms and flew back to the Keep. Perhaps Doctor Tarly could shed some light on the matter.

 

Brienne came to in what appeared to be an ultra-modern hospital room. Machines of every description beeped and booped nearby. A young physician entered; one of the beeps must have summoned him. Brienne thought he had a jolly smile, though she wouldn’t have said so – fat people didn’t like to be called jolly.

“Hello there, I’m Dr. Tarly. How are you feeling? You’re the first somnotoxin victim I’ve seen in a while. The dosage can be tricky; I was a mite worried, don’t mind telling you. Your vitals look great though. Any complaints? Headache? Dizziness?”

“I, uh, I don’t know where I am. Or what happened. I left work. It was cold outside. Then…I’m here?”

“Well, you are now in the medical ward of the Keep, safe from those thugs that attacked you. They shot you with a dart coated with a knockout drug. Do you remember seeing anyone unusual about?”

“I sort of remember Jaime Golden. But I saw him earlier, so I’m probably just confused.”

“No, he was there all right. He realized you were in danger of another attack. I dare say he didn’t expect them to strike again quite so soon. You don’t remember seeing your attacker, though?”

“No. Wait, I’m in danger?”

“I’ll let the Goldens tell it if you feel up for visitors. Just let me check you out.” He did a careful physical and proclaimed Brienne ‘cleared for field work,’ then corrected himself to ‘fine.’ “Shall I call them?” he asked.

“Sure,” Brienne said. She felt okay now, but wondered whether someone would know how to contact her family if she relapsed.

Her questions were soon answered when Jaime and Cersei Golden entered her room.

Cersei said, “Miss Tarth, so pleased to see you conscious. I had to rummage around in your mind a bit to see if you had any medical conditions. You’re so much easier to read while awake. You do have a nice organized mind, though. So few people manage to keep their mental beds made. Well done.”

“Um, thanks. Pleased to meet you.” Brienne wasn’t as discombobulated this time, partially due to the remnants of the knockout drugs in her system, with an assist from the fact that Jaime Golden now wore street clothes instead of his revealing uniform.

“I didn’t introduce myself before. Sorry about that. I’m Jaime Golden. You’ve seen my powers - wielding Lightbringer, superstrength, flight. This is my twin sister, Cersei. She’s the brains of the family – telepathy and telekinesis specifically. She can also manifest a shield made of light. It’s as beautiful as it is useful.”

Brienne smiled quizzically. “No trouble, I knew who you were anyway. Though, I didn’t think to ask in all the confusion this morning, why didn’t your sword harm me?”

“It only hurts villains. It could see your heart was true.” He paused, noticing her doubtful expression. “Seriously, that’s the answer. Her shield works the same way.”

“Strange. I wonder why your powers are so different if you’re twins.”

“I guess we’re not that much alike, at that, but we are complementary. For example, I can fight from inside her shield. It keeps the bad guys out, but my attacks can go through. We’ve always been an unstoppable combo.”

“So, we’ve determined the assaults on you aren’t random,” Cersei broke in. “They’re targeting you, or rather people who look like you, for unknown reasons. At the risk of sounding just like them, would you mind if we analyzed some of your blood samples to see if we can figure out what their aims are? I can administer a standard doppelgänger test if you’d like to be sure we’re really the Goldens.”

“That won’t be necessary. Sure, you can test my blood. Please let me know what you find out.”

“Great,” Jaime said. “I think it would be for the best if you stayed here in the Keep for a few days while we figure out what’s going on.”

“Don’t worry about your job,” Cersei added, having gleaned as much from Brienne’s surface thoughts. “We have two Stark-lings here. Ned understands that Noble Alliance matters must take precedence over common employment.”

Cersei swept out of the room with a brief farewell, but Jaime paused at the door to say, “I really am glad I was there to keep you out of the hands of those miscreants. Rest well; you’ll be safe here.”

 

The next morning, Dr. Tarly released Brienne from the medical ward. His wife, Gilly, smoothly transitioned her to the guest quarters, at which point she was left on her own. She didn’t want to intrude into the team’s business, so she stayed in her room. She sent a few emails reassuring her family and friends that all was well and apologizing for missing work. Her only problem was frustration with the inaction and uncertainty.

Jaime Golden interrupted her boredom with a knock at her door and his bright smile. “How are you doing today, Sleeping GoodPersonality?” He leaned in to give her a chaste peck on the cheek in greeting.

Brienne blushed at the contact anyway. “Oh, hello. I’m fine. Are the tests done? Do you know what those thugs were trying to find?” Brienne was glad his sister wasn’t around this time. Restraining her thoughts from wandering into forbidden areas had taken an iron will last evening.

“Oh gods, no. That will take days to analyze. I thought you might be bored. Would you like to meet the rest of the team?” Jaime had been surprised not to see Brienne taking advantage of access to the Keep. Usually they couldn’t keep guest civilians out of their way, but he’d found himself searching for her instead.

“That sound like fun. I’ll be sure to carry my autograph book next time people are hunting Andals.”

They made their way to the leisure areas of the Keep. The Golden family had commissioned this grand fortress a generation ago as a multi-purpose training and living quarters for the Noble Alliance. Over the years it had grown to also include research and medical facilities, as well as vehicle bays with crafts for land, water, and air missions. Brienne suddenly wondered why she’d never considered working here. It seemed much more exciting than Stark Predictive Solutions.

“Let’s see who’s around,” Jaime said, leading Brienne into an open area where she could see several people exercising, chatting, or just relaxing.

“That’s Robert, the Warhammer, leader of our team. He swings a big hammer; not much else to say. He’s engaged to my sister, but he will absolutely try to fuck you if you give him half a chance. I’d recommend against it, but do as you see fit.”

“A hard pass on that, I think,” Brienne said, earning a genuine smile from Jaime. She’s already heard enough about Robert from Ned Stark. The two had been friends for years, but even Ned admitted Robert needed to show more propriety. He’d sired children all over the city; Brienne certainly didn’t want any part of that.

“Loras, our speedster; fastest gent alive. Good thing he’s gay, otherwise he’d be every woman’s worst nightmare. Over there’s his hubby, Tormund, the Ginger Bear. He turns into a bear. In case you’re wondering, yep, bright red all over.” The redhead heard him and directed a friendly nod their way.

Jaime continued, “I suspect Loras must also have some sort of localized portal making ability for their sex life to work, but so far he hasn’t demonstrated it to me.”

“That’s homophobic,” the bear rumbled, coming over to kiss Brienne’s hand in a courtly fashion.

“It was a compliment. I’ve seen you in the shower,” Jaime retorted. Tormund threw back his head and laughed, clapping each of them on the back.

“Who else? Dany, our Valyrian sorceress. Her interests include fire, blood, and megalomania. She holds a grudge; you don’t want to piss her off.”

“The guy sitting on the couch pretending to mediate is Bran Stark, he sees the past and future. Anything that has happened and anything that could be, he says. He’s an annoying prick about it, too.”

“Lurking in the shadows there is Arya, Bran’s older sister. She can shapechange a bit, mainly her face. Mostly she’s just terrifyingly good at hurting people.”

“Finally, in the pool is Theon, our man beneath the waves. He swims fast, breathes water, and is tougher than most of us. He’s the one super villains take down to prove they’re serious.”

Jaime tapped on an intercom to get everyone’s attention.

“For those that haven’t heard, this woman beside me is Brienne Tarth. Some supervillian wannabes are targeting her thanks to her inactive Andal DNA. I thought it best to keep her under protective custody until we manage to track them down. Let’s show her some hospitality.”

Most of the collected superheroes waved or said hello. Bran stood to welcome Brienne with an awkward bow. He had grown nearly a foot over the past year, and his lanky frame barely appeared to be under his control. He gave Jaime an inscrutable nod.

“You’re half right,” Bran said.

 


	2. The Gauntlet

“What do you mean, half right? Don’t you walk away, you little pissant. I swear, sometimes I think a philosophy grad student would be of more use to the team. Stop being infuriating and explain yourself,” Jaime insisted of Bran Stark.

“I thought it perfectly obvious. You’re half right: people are after her, but it’s not because her Andal DNA is inactive. It’s not. It’s pumping out power proteins and RNAs all over the place.”

“Um…what?” Brienne asked.

“Are you sure? What are her abilities?” Jaime demanded.

“I don’t know. I can’t see that part because the lab tests don’t come back with those kind of results. They just show the right sections of the chromosomes all unraveled and open for business. Don’t forget to actually listen to the results of the tests, by the way. I always get a headache if I report on something I’ve seen from the future and you guys don’t follow through with it. They should be ready in three days.”

“Great, maybe we can figure out what her powers are before we learn she has powers! Unless that will disrupt your zen.” Jaime growled.

“I’ll risk it. Welcome to the Keep, Brienne. You may be here longer than you thought,” Bran said.

Brienne looked over to Jaime for reassurance. His expression was changing, eyes beginning to shine like he anticipated unwrapping a Lamborghini-shaped nameday present.

“Oh, this will be fun. Most people come to us to audition, already knowing their powers. But every once in a while, we get to help discover them. Brienne Tarth, prepare to face the Gauntlet.”

 

Brienne waited nervously in the training room. Her spandex jumpsuit had clearly been tailored for a man and yet managed to be too tight in the shoulders anyway. And the waist, and the legs. Hopefully, if there was a superhero draft, she’d get to design her own costume.

The Golden twins entered. Jaime smiled at Brienne easily as if they’d been friends for years. Cersei seemed more curious than sociable, but at least Brienne had been upgraded from Commoner (beneath notice) to Potential Colleague (likely beneath notice).

Jaime said, “We’re going to run you through some basic exercises to see if the sensors pick up any extraordinary powers. The line between regular and super can be tricky sometimes. Cersei will be monitoring your mind. If you feel the urge to sprout a couple extra limbs or turn purple, go with it. If it’s more like you want to grow twenty feet tall or turn into a mist of chlorine gas, maybe shoot us a heads up.”

“Okay, but nothing like any of that’s ever happened to me before.”

“I’m going to be stressing your body, and Cersei will be stressing your mind. Surprising things tend to happen.”

Jaime began with some light martial arts strikes that Brienne handily blocked. She’d trained in taekwondo all through college. Between trying to establish herself at work and learning the rhythms of West City, she hadn’t gotten around to finding a local dojo yet, but it was all coming back. She even got a nice kick through to his hip. It didn’t faze him – he probably barely felt it – but it boosted her confidence.

Suddenly, a yawning pit opened beneath her feet. She scrambled for purchase, grabbing hard onto the side. Jaime pulled her to her feet just as a giant spider crawled out. Brienne noticed Jaime didn’t seem at all alarmed. “Is – is that just in my mind?”

“That’s right; very good. There’s no hole either, and apparently you can’t fly. Too bad; it’s fun.”

He pulled some pads off the wall where Brienne hadn’t noticed them before and strapped them on. They were made of an unusual, shimmery-looking material. “Now try punching me, hard as you can. Don’t hold back, in fact, concentrate. Try to – Cersei? I’m not great at describing it.”

“Try to reach inside yourself and draw upon the energy there. Push it out of your body like you’re actually throwing your aura at him. It takes some practice, but just use your imagination. See if you find it there.”

Brienne tried. She punched very hard and even heard a few grunts out of Jaime, but she couldn’t say she noticed any well of energy inside herself that she could throw at people.

“Okay. Tap her, Jaime. The padding is thickest on the west side. Brienne, try to told your ground.”

Jaime kicked at her with obvious reluctance. Any idea of holding her ground was a joke, as his superstrength enhanced blow sent her sailing across the room smack into the padding on the wall. Jaime apologetically held up his hand before glaring at his twin.

“What? She’s big. Tell me super-density never crossed your mind. Okay, Brienne back over here. One more and we’ll take a break. Try to pull the number I’m thinking out of my mind. Just work on it for a bit and give me your best guess. It’s between 1 and 10,000.”

“Uh, 5372,” Brienne said after concentrating and even putting her hands on Cersei’s temples at her encouragement. It was a complete guess. She sensed nothing at all, even though Cersei seemed to be actively transmitting the number.

“113,” Cersei tsked.

“Good effort, for all the tests,” Jaime said. “Don’t be discouraged, these were just the basics. Let’s take five and check the sensors to see if they picked up anything. Don’t get too comfortable, though. There’s a long way to go.”

Dr. Tarly was in charge of the diagnostic equipment. “Welcome to the control room, Ms. Tarth,” he said. “We had no disruptions in the instruments. The data look good. There were no discharges of unusual energies from the electromagnetic spectrum at any point.”

“Well, it’s always a relief to know my gonads weren’t being nuked while she was punching me. You’d break in, right, if she started throwing off gamma rays?” Jaime asked.

“Of course,” Tarly replied seriously. “The readings show she’s strong, but it’s human strong. Olympic level human strong, but still. You said the sword and shield register her as fully good. So that’s nice.” He turned to Brienne, “Whatever you can do, you’re on our side.”

“There’s nothing in her mind,” Cersei said. “Oh, no offense. I meant there’s nothing special,” she continued. “Touchy, isn’t she? I mean, there are no mental powers,” she further continued.

“Break’s over then, Brienne. Time for special teams,” Jaime said.

 

Loras helped Brienne position herself on the treadmill. “You can warm up for a few minutes, but mostly we want you to run full out. It’s a sprint, not a marathon.”

Brienne tried, really concentrating on moving her legs as fast as she could. Even so, she could hear that her pounding footfalls sounded nothing like a traditional speedster. She’d be the Thudding Blur or something like that.

After several sweat-soaked minutes, Loras said she could stop. The control room had given him the thumbs down.

“There’s another common speedster power worth testing for. It’s a defensive shield we put up to protect us from the friction of the air. So, I want you to punch at me, but don’t actually hit me, okay? I’m not particularly resilient.”

“That’s not what Tormund says – ow!” Jaime’s voice came from the control room.

Brienne punched toward Loras. He dodged to the side and pushed at the arm that seemed to be passing in front of him in slow motion. No invisible force prevented him from deflecting the blow. By the time she finished her strike, he was already heading out to tag in Tormund.

***

For this test, Brienne had changed into a thin paper gown. Tormund dressed normally, which hardly seemed fair.

“Some shifting powers take the clothes with them, and some don’t. It really is better to be safe than sorry,” he said apologetically, aware of her discomfort. “I’m one ‘o the lucky ones. Now, have there been any animals in your life you’ve felt a particular kinship to?”

“No…I like animals, but I haven’t pretended to be one since I was a little girl.”

“Well, let’s try bear together. I don’t mind sayin’, you’ve got a bit o' the bear nature.”

Brienne smiled, supposing that was a compliment.

“When I need to change in a hurry, what I do is push against somethin'. It gets the muscles stretching and, before I know it, the transformation starts. Why don’t you push against this wall here, hard as you can, and let’s see what happens.”

Brienne got into a wide stance, put her arms at shoulder height, and became acutely aware that her gown now exposed the entirety of her ass to the control room. She looked over her shoulder to see far too many people paying rapt attention.

Tormund moved to stand behind her, blocking the view. “It’s all right, girl,” he rumbled. “None o' the bad ones got an eye full. And while I’m no expert on the female form, I think you’ve probably inspired a bit o' jealousy.”

She pushed until her muscles were sore, but didn’t change shape or become hairier. They tried a few other exercises, including one in the pool with Theon in case her form was aquatic, to an equal lack of success.

***

“I know you’re supposed to be Andal, but it can’t hurt to test you for Valyrian,” Dany said. “Now what you want to do is reach into the fabric of the universe and grab ahold of some of the essence.”

“Uh.”

“Fill your hand with it and pull it back into this dimension.”

“Um.” Dany’s hand now glowed with white hot flames. Brienne still hadn’t the first clue about how to start unpacking step one.

Dany noticed her incomprehension. “No real surprise magic’s not your talent. Let’s test your resistances.”

“I’m fairly certain I’m not fireproof,” Brienne said quickly.

“One good way to find out.”

Brienne cringed, but Dany called up her file and examined the preliminary DNA results. “Right, no inclusion on the 20th chromosome at marker 12. That's sort of the key Valyrian package. Without it, you're probably not fireproof.”

***

Arya Stark somehow entered the room. Brienne remembered the door opening, but she hadn’t noticed anyone come in. The young woman appeared even more petite close up. “You looked pretty strong against Jaime. Let’s see if you can actually fight. Choose a weapon,” she said.

“I’ve done lots of sword and staff katas, but-”

“Broadsword,” Arya said.

A broadsword materialized on the wall behind Brienne. It was made of the same shimmery material as Jaime’s armor from earlier.

“Pick it up.”

“Listen, you’re a very small woman, and I’m quite strong. I’d hate to-”

“Pick it up or we’ll be testing your pain tolerance instead of your combat skills.”

Arya pulled a small, thin-bladed sword out of absolutely fucking nowhere as far as Brienne could tell. She made several complicated passes with it in front of her torso before settling into a guard position.

Brienne picked up the broadsword, evaluating it as well weighted and thankfully blunt. After a few wild misses, she started to zero in on Arya’s combat style. She couldn’t use her full swing against Arya’s swift, agile movements, but every once in a while she’d get in a solid blow. Once she could have sworn she saw the girl spit out a tooth before she charged at her again.

Their bout ended when their mutual killing blows (had the weapons been sharp) were rewarded with thunderous applause. Startled, Brienne looked up to the control room to see what appeared to be the entire complement of heroes watching them. She decided to call for a break and see how Jaime thought the tests were going.

“Amazing!” Jaime gripped Brienne’s shoulders as soon as she entered the room. He didn’t entirely suppress his super strength.

“Really? Did you figure out my powers? I didn’t feel anything different.”

“No, there was no power activity. You fought Arya Stark to a draw without powers!”

“She’s a tiny, little thing. Why is that impressive?”

“Hahaha,” Jaime just laughed.

Vexed, Brienne looked around. The entire audience broke into uncontrollable hysterics as Arya entered.

“You’re going to have her footprint on your chest all week!” Jaime taunted.

“I will not. The tooth already grew back, see?” Arya snarled. She rapped Brienne on the shoulder. “Good fight. You’re welcome on any mission of mine, even if your power turns out to be useless.”

 

They’d tested for most of the day with no discernible results. Tarly and the rest of the diagnostics team sent Brienne out for a late lunch so they could develop a new battery of trials to throw at her. She picked at her fried chicken, wishing she’d ordered something lighter. What if she got winded in the training room, started puking up her lunch and couldn’t stop? That’d be some super power to have.

“Oh, don’t be worried. Bran has never been wrong yet.” Cersei said. She sat down across from Brienne with a cup of tea that smelled faintly of lemon. “You have some sort of power. This may only mean it’s one of the rarer ones. Something sensory you don’t realize not everyone can do, perhaps. Do you ever taste colors? Or listen to the radio without, you know, a radio?”

“No, nothing like that.”

“Hmm. I hope it’s not some bizarre branch of physics. If you feel like altering the universal gravitational constant, don’t. So many universes have collapsed that way.”

“I will resist any such temptation.”

Cersei sniffed. “You don’t have pheromones, do you? Can you affect people’s emotions with your scent? That’s surprisingly difficult to test for.”

“No, sorry. If I’m smelly it’s just because of the workout. I took two showers. But I promise, no one’s ever taken a whiff of me and fallen in love.”

“Good.” Cersei sipped her tea, seeming troubled.

Brienne struggled to make small talk. “Jaime tells me that you’re engaged to the Warhammer. That must be exciting, to have found love while fighting to make the world a better place.”

“Oh, I don’t love Robert.”

Brienne’s eyes widened. She looked up in shock at Cersei’s casual admission.

“If you must know, I mainly threw myself at him to get over Jaime. I didn’t expect the media to get involved and decide we were the next great couple. Before I knew it, we were engaged. Neither of us knows quite how to get out of it, I think.”

“Um, could you go back a second to Jaime?” Brienne squeaked.

“Right, that. It wasn’t our fault. That’s why I hate pheromones. We were fighting the Oversharer – pheromone based powers, and she got a look at Theon’s package. We defeated her, but everyone got a dose. Loras and Tormund were already banging in the Keep’s elevator. Robert hooked up with Dany, Theon with Beria, who’s dead right now. Oh, but don’t worry; it’s just a nap for her. She’ll be back anytime. Jaime and I were the only ones left, and well, it didn’t seem like such a strange idea while we were under the influence.

“Once it wore off, though, Jaime had no trouble putting it behind him. He talked to a therapist once, I think, then it was like it never happened. I didn’t want to let it go. No man has ever been as kind, loving, and tender to me as my brother. Everything felt just right. I honestly can’t imagine it being any better with anyone else. So, it’s been hard for me to date after I’ve basically been dumped by the person I’ve always loved most in the world.

“Why – why are there so many exclamation points going off in your head? Have I said something offensive?”

“No. No, I just- It’s really impressive you’re able to be so matter of fact about it. I don’t think I’d ever be able to tell another person, much less someone who’s practically a stranger.”

Cersei replayed the conversation in her mind, jaw dropping at the revelations she’d made. That wasn’t the story she usually told when asked about her upcoming wedding. She had a nice, meet-cute anecdote all prepared. She could tell it by rote. Instead, she’d dumped the truth on this…this…

“You’re…tall. You’re…blue-eyed. You’re…strong.” Each time Cersei seemed to be struggling to say another word before completing her sentence. “Oh fuck. You’re annoying. Well, that still works. More of a fluctuating opinion, I suppose. You’re homosexual.”

“I’m not…I’m straight. I mean, was that supposed to be an insult?”

“No. Just something I didn’t know. You’re…heterosexual. Heh. Now I do, apparently. You’re a human lie detector. Lie preventer, really.”

 

“I’m not a toy!” Brienne protested as she and Cersei rounded the corner to the control room.

“Come on, try to say it. E equals m c squared. But not squared. Anything else.”

“E equals m c squared.”

Cersei let out a peal of laughter. “Did you try?”

“Uh, yes, I tried to say cubed.”

“Have you never told a lie?”

“I don’t know…” Brienne trailed off. She couldn’t think of one. It was one of the reasons everyone called her the strong, silent type. She found talking tended to cause awkwardness. Was it because she couldn’t lie?

Cersei laughed again. “Did everyone hear that? She’s not sure if she’s ever lied.”

“She can’t lie? That’s her superpower? Wow, and I thought the Supertaster had it rough,” Arya said.

“No, not just her. No one around her can lie. Try it; it’s hilarious.”

The control room soon filled with sounds of mirth as the teammates tried to insult or compliment one another incorrectly.

“Guys, guys, it’s not just that,” Dr. Tarly said. He brought over his tablet so they could see some updated readings.

“What do you mean?” Cersei asked.

“I was reviewing her results from the tests in the training room. Originally, of course, I paid attention only to her numbers. But look, see, across the board: all your numbers are better than your previous norms. Jaime is stronger, Loras is faster, Dany’s flames are hotter. I think the lying bit is just a side effect. Her real power is that she improves everyone around her.”

 


	3. The Golden Wedding

“Is it permanent?” Loras asked.

“I don’t know,” Dr. Tarly replied.

“Does it only work on heroes, or villains too?” Arya asked.

“I don’t know.”

“What about regular humans?” Cersei asked.

“I realized this 30 seconds ago. How much research do you think I’ve had time to do?” Dr. Tarly asked, his temper breaking through his jovial personality.

Brienne swept her eyes around the control room. Dr. Tarly just said she had the previously unsuspected superpower of improving the abilities of everyone around her. Some of her potential teammates looked dubious about whether that could be a real power.

“Do yeh have an estimate of the size of the effect, then?” Tormund asked. He stepped forward to put a supportive hand on Brienne’s shoulder. After a split second, which presumably felt longer to him, Loras also moved to stand beside Brienne.

“It appears to be around 20%” Dr. Tarly said. “Some of it’s a little hard to quantify, but since you asked, I’d say she improved you all by about 20%.”

“Yeah, and don’t forget, she can fight on top of it,” Arya said. “She even fought me while I was regenerating faster, right? So she’s useful.” That seemed to settle the matter for most everyone. The crowd drifted away just as Jaime came running up.

“Cersei told me that she and Dr. Tarly figured out your power. What is it?”

Cersei hadn’t left the control room, but after a moment of reflection Brienne realized she didn’t have to in order to contact her brother.

“I enhance other people’s powers. Like, I’d make you stronger and give Cersei better range.”

“That’s incredible! We should get you into training right away.” Never able to resist coming up with nicknames, Jaime continued, “We’ll call you…Inspiration.”

“Splendid. And Jaime, while you’re here, you never told me what you thought of my wedding dress,” Cersei said, mischief sparkling in her eyes.

“It makes your butt look big. Which I don’t mind, but Robert might,” Jaime said, then became confused as Cersei broke down laughing and Brienne turned beet red.

 

Brienne resigned from Stark Predictive Solutions, if being told she’d done so after the fact by Arya counted. “You’re too good a sparring partner to spend half your days checking facts,” she said. “Bran already told Dad he’d need a replacement anyway.” The Noble Alliance agreed to maintain her salary in addition to providing room, board, and deluxe benefits, so she could hardly complain. (Note: this was her opinion _before_ she began daily training with Arya. Afterwards, she demanded and received a series of salary adjustments).

Swiftly prioritized research on Dr. Tarly’s part showed that the effect of Brienne’s power was not permanent. In fact, it faded immediately as her allies moved out of range. She could affect everyone near her without numerical limit or any diminishment of the power’s magnitude. Dr. Tarly said this broke different laws of physics than most other powers, which excited him for some reason.

Brienne could not affect ordinary people, but could enhance powers originating from both Andal and Valyrian DNA. Dr. Tarly thought this could lead to insights on how powers derived from DNA, which also excited him. Basically, he buzzed around with so much excess energy that it became almost impossible not to call him Dr. Bumblebee…especially when Brienne was around.

Her effect on supervillains was more complicated. After careful transport of a few from Black Cell prison to the Keep (because they did not want to risk taking her there, in case she did enhance them all), Dr. Tarly found contradictory results. Some villains weakened, some strengthened, and some showed no effect on their powers but did express remorse for their actions. He tentatively concluded that their internal character had some part in how her ability struck them. The ones who’d committed crimes to help others might be positively affected, while the ones who’d acted out of cruelty were more often diminished. This metaphysical result disappointed Tarly, throwing a wrench into his thesis that powers could be explained purely by physics and biology.

 

Cersei could feel Brienne’s distress coming off of her in waves. It was so strong as to be nearly nauseating. Every instinct told Cersei to leave her to her own devices. Brienne’s emotional well-being was not her problem. She wasn’t a licensed therapist. She…was already walking across the lunch room toward the silly girl. Sucked into the black hole of niceness.

“Mac and cheese, really? If you want empty calories and fat, just have a ice cream sundae.” Cersei winced, having forgotten that whatever thoughts were at the top of her mind tended to come straight out of her mouth around Brienne. One could hardly tell the difference with Jaime or Arya who didn’t have much in the way of mental filters in the first place, but a trained telepath should be more controlled.

Brienne jumped, and oddly, her eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry. It’s just comfort food. I’m so sorry!”

The tears started to fall, and _oh shit, what the hell was this?_ *Robert* pounded at the top of Brienne’s mind. Well, you didn’t have to be an 8 th dimensional super intelligent hive mind to figure out what happened there. Cersei supposed it was only the girl’s subpar appearance that had kept it from happening sooner. She gave herself a mental high-five for putting the brakes on saying that out loud.

“Robert hit on you. Is that it?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what I did. I wasn’t trying to encourage him.”

“Of course not. Today was probably the first time he saw you in a leotard tight enough to prove you don’t have a cock. That’s really all it takes. It’s not your fault. Gods, you don’t even know it’s not your fault?”

“Maybe it was because of my side-effect that he couldn’t control himself.”

“Oh, sweetling, no. He takes a run at every girl here, except for Arya who looks too much like his best friend. He’s not a terrible guy; a good, firm ‘no’ generally settles it.”

“Well, I told him that. I don’t understand why you’re going ahead with the wedding though, if you already know he’s like this.”

“Everyone has their faults. He’s wonderful in many ways. Charismatic, brave, generous, handsome. I just can’t expect fidelity from him. That’s…going to be hell.” _Oh no!_ She’d meant to say ‘okay.’ Apparently she couldn’t even fool herself into thinking that she could tolerate a lifetime of Robert’s flagrant disregard. It wasn’t so much the cheating, but that he thought her so dim that he could get away with it.

“You can’t think you deserve that! You’re talking of your entire future here. You should aim a bit higher than hell, don’t you think?” Brienne’s clear, blue eyes bore into Cersei’s, begging her to let go of past hurts and embrace hope.

Cersei’s breath caught in her chest. She couldn’t even tell herself Brienne was lying out of kindness, because she can’t lie. _Gods damn her! She really thinks I can be better and do better._

 

Talking to Brienne was tricky, Jaime had learned. He had to stay on script, and of course, it had to be true. Trying to speak off the cuff always led to embarrassment for one or the other of them because he couldn’t pretend to be joking. Like the time he’d invited her to go swimming and then mentioned he’d rather be skinny dipping. With anyone else, it would be harmless flirting. In front of her, though, there was no taking it back. Everyone knew he meant it (except maybe her).

 _Be cool, Golden. You’ve prepared for this,_ he encouraged himself.

Brienne stretched her long legs past the length of the lounge’s sofa. Arya wasn’t allowed to ambush her here, for reasons of ‘there needs to be some place I can relax; seriously, I’m going to crack up, it hasn’t even been a week.’ She watched as Jaime approached her. She could barely believe they were friends now. He’d really gone out of his way to make her feel welcome at the Keep. Oddly, he consulted some notes before he started talking.

“Brienne, you know Cersei’s wedding rehearsal dinner is coming up. I was wondering if you’d like to go as my plus one. Since you’re the newest member of the team. Because I think we’d have a good time, and probably no one else has realized you don’t have a date yet.” _Damn it! ‘Cersei probably hasn’t thought to add you to the guest list,’_ was what he meant to say, leaving out the ‘date’ word entirely, but when she sat up, his eyes skipped off his notecard and got hung up in her blue depths.

“Sure, I’d love to go. I’ve heard your father pulled out all the stops. It should be a lot of fun.”

 _Aaaah, trapped, can’t get my eyes back to the card before my dumb honest mouth opens,_ “Great! It’s a date. I’ll be sure to have plenty of condoms just in case.”

Jaime’s face blanched and he dashed from the room before she could reply. He had the weirdest sense of humor.

 

Walder Frey generously opened his reconstructed castle to the Golden and Baratheon families for the site of Robert and Cersei’s wedding. Only the eastern half, actually – the Twins, as the castle was called – had originally been split in two and connected by a bridge spanning a fork of the Trident River. Now that hydroelectric dams had rearranged the river, he’d had the castle meticulously rebuilt with the east wing for functions and the west for general living quarters. During tonight’s rehearsal dinner, the ballroom in the east was drenched with golden decorations, a color shared by the families soon to be joined. The Goldens had spared no expense in any aspect of the wedding, as Frey knew they wouldn’t. With a little creative accounting, he expected to make a profit even with the donation of the function rooms.

Tywin Golden, known as Legacy back in his heyday, cast his ice blue eyes around the room critiquing every detail. Always a careful planner, he did not want any snags in the first of his offspring’s weddings. He had to acknowledge a bit of selfishness in this since he could assume the powers of any living Golden. At one time, he’d had dozens to choose from, but now he was down to only a few siblings and his twins. In his opinion, the present generation had let down the family in terms of lost fecundity.

Cersei suspected that her last chance to stop the wedding really passed about six months ago when they’d made the final arrangements with the wedding planner. Even putting the money to the side, Tywin had been nagging her and Jaime about finding spouses for years. After all, to be of use to him, Goldens had to be legitimate.

“Father, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Robert isn’t even here,” she said. He’d had an enthusiastic bachelor party last night and was unable to get out of bed yet, was what Jaime had relayed to her. He’d waited until Brienne needed to use the restroom to tell that story, however, so no doubt it was a cleaned up version of the truth.

“The rehearsal dinner is merely a formality, dear. We both already know he can eat.”

“Yes, it’s just that Robert and I feel it’s been a bit of a whirlwind. Perhaps we should postpone the wedding until we’re sure it’s what we really want.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Not after I’ve spent so much money and everyone we know has flown in for the ceremony. You’re just having wedding jitters. It happens to every woman. You will go through with it.”

Cersei tried to tell herself it wouldn’t be so bad. She wasn’t some naïve girl; she knew what she was getting into with Robert. He’d cheat on her for certain, but he wasn’t an evil man. Sometimes their passion felt real, even though she could hear him thinking other names. Holding out for someone like her brother was stupid, borderline insane.

Much to her surprise, Cersei felt her father touch her mind with her own power. _“Cersei, have you seen your brother lately?”_

Cersei nearly pointed out Jaime, but checked herself. Father surely knew Jaime was here, which meant against all odds, he was talking about Tyrion. Poor, forgotten, unpowered Tyrion, the black sheep of the Golden family. _“No, why would I?”_

“ _He vanished from his townhouse sometime last week. Half a bottle of wine left on the table. Something’s not right.”_

“ _Abducted? Like those thugs who kept trying to take Brienne?”_

“ _I’m wondering. There may be more organization behind it. Everyone who is anyone in the powers game will be here tonight. We need to keep up appearances until we can figure it out. Powers or not, he’s still my son. I’ll show whoever has him that attacking the Goldens is most unwise.”_

“ _I have an idea about how to help with that.”_

 

Cersei expertly steered Jaime and Brienne through the party, making introductions. No one would turn aside the bride-to-be, so she gradually managed to speak with everyone. Finding excuses to keep bringing up Tyrion to see if their brains sparked or they blurted anything out was the tricky part. It even had Jaime shooting her some confused looks.

Naturally, after dozens of tedious conversations, it turned out to be the person Cersei had gone out of her way to avoid: Father’s creepy friend Walder Frey. In her defense, who – other than possibly Tywin Golden – would be arrogant enough to host a party for a man whose son you kidnapped?

“It’s just such a shame my brother Tyrion can’t be here. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was drunk or in jail.”

“Ha! In a way you could say he’s both,” Frey replied. His brain began to populate with recent images of Tyrion. Cersei gave Jaime a ‘let me do the talking’ glance. She was intimately familiar with Brienne’s effect on conversation. Frey wouldn’t realize what he was saying until someone called attention to it.

“Oh, I wasn’t aware you and Tyrion knew each other. His lack of powers always kept him out of our social circles.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, dearie. He does have powers, just sneaky passive ones.”

Jaime’s eyes went wide, but fortunately he didn’t say anything. Cersei smiled over-brightly and nodded. “How clever of you to have figured it out.”

“Yes, don’t mind patting ourselves on the back a bit there. When the home DNA sequencers came out, my boys did some messing about and we noticed that some people had powers without knowing it. Mostly it’s people with lots of Andal blood, so we started hunting them down. Tyrion was an easy little fish to catch. Big Walder – he’s the smart one – has taken to calling him Muse. Once you get him a little drunk, the ideas start coming faster than you can write them down. He really doesn’t mind so long as the wine and women are in good supply.”

Frey laughed hard, clapping a hand onto Cersei’s shoulder. The contact provided her with an image she could have done without: her brother strapped to a table, screaming. “Thank you for… _(damn it, Brienne, let me say what I need to say)_ …for any tenderness you’ve shown him.” _(‘All the kindness’ would have sounded better, but *someone* wouldn’t let that pass),_ Cersei grumbled to herself.

“Well, he minds some when we strap him down and draw out his bone marrow. We shouldn’t need to do that much longer though. We’re getting close to establishing a cell line where we can keep cloning it. Then, we can harvest it, and turn it into a drug. Imagine how much the masses will pay for an idea pill! For connoisseurs, an injection of his cerebrospinal fluid right to the cortex. That’s the great thing about him; he’s given us so many ideas about how to use his pieces.” Frey laughed again, not seeming to have noticed that he was swiftly being surrounded by Noble Alliance members. Cersei had sent out the mental alarm.

“Where are you keeping him?” The time had arrived for direct questions, Cersei judged. He was bound to realize his mistake soon.

“In the west tower. It pleases me to have the pipsqueak over there, right under your father’s nose and have him be none the wiser.”

“Oh. Tyrion’s such a clever fellow, though. Do you have anyone guarding him?” Unfortunately, Brienne’s presence began to cut against Jaime here. He had to pucker his lips to keep from blurting out what he thought of Walder Frey.

“Bolton’s boy has him under lock and key. Also, there’s-” Frey suddenly seemed to take in the expressions of his listeners and realized he’d been saying a lot more than the usual small talk about the wedding. He looked back and forth at the Golden twins before his gaze settled on Brienne. “You. What did you do to me?”

“Nothing she doesn’t do to everyone else. Good thing the rest of us don’t have any deep, dark secrets. Now let’s go see my brother’s accommodations,” Jaime said.

Frey smirked. “No, no no, what kind of a host would I be? Let me introduce you to some of my other guests.”

 

Cersei noticed it first, and sent out a mental alert to the other heroes nearby. Ringing the outer edge of the ballroom were dozens of Walder Freys. The man’s ability to project clones of himself was well known, but she’d never seen him do so many at once. The ones nearest the rear exit bolted for the door, whereas the others stepped forward menacingly.

“Now friends,” the clones said in eerie synchronicity, “just sit down and relax. My bard is coming to play you a pleasant song that will make you forget all your troubles.”

The heroes sprang into action, Loras first as usual. “They have no toughness,” he yelled about the clones. A few good punches were enough to cause each projection to crumble. Unfortunately, during the confusion, the real Walder Frey had blended into the fake ones and continued to send out reinforcements. Even fighting full out, the heroes could not dispel the fake Freys fast enough, and could only hope to luck into the real one.

Tormund’s roar seemed to shake the room, and Brienne quirked a smile for a second at seeing the giant all-red bear in action. She sobered up immediately once she realized what had happened. A white man-blob had charged into the room nearly crushing Loras. Tormund had the monster engaged now. They were of nearly equal size and trading snaps of razor sharp teeth. Several other supervillains also arrived – the real reinforcements the fleeing Frey clones summoned from the west tower.

Arya was soon at Brienne’s side. “C’mon Rookie, let’s give that guy the gift of pain.” She drew a sword (again, from _nowhere_ ) and pointed it at a man wielding a whip and surrounded by a dozen hounds with glowing red eyes. “Ramsay Bolton. Watch out: the whip can entangle you. Try not to hurt the dogs. I like dogs.”

 _Try not to hurt the dogs? It would be nice if they’d return the favor_ , Brienne thought. Still, they waded in against Bolton. He focused his attacks on Arya, clearly viewing her as the bigger threat. Brienne’s pride was not 100% okay with that, but seeing Arya in a real fight, she began to understand. The young woman’s swift attacks and double-jointed dodges made her impossible to predict. It almost seemed the best defense would be to assume she’d come from an impossible direction. At least Brienne could take some credit for the fact that Arya’s injuries healed before they even had a chance to bleed.

Around the room, other heroes and villains started to pair off. Theon fought with Crow’s Eye, dodging his silencing black bolts. Cersei faced off with Frey’s bard, Marillion in an intense, motionless battle of mind control. Dany and the Ice King likewise sized each other up, temperature gradients beginning to form between them. Jaime wielded Lightbringer against another swordsman, Darkstar, who had a blade of purest black. Loras picked up speed, trying to deliver at least one punch to each Frey with the goal of breaking his concentration.

Brienne and Arya’s battle was interrupted by the welcome presence of Lightbringer cutting through Ramsay’s whip. Arya took the opportunity to close with Ramsay and deal a knockout blow. Brienne looked back to see Tywin Golden. “Get as central as you can. Help the ones that look evenly matched,” he ordered.

Brienne punched and kicked her way through a few Freys (none the lucky one) to arrive nearby Jaime. His battle seemed balanced on a razor’s edge. Obviously his opponent had a matched set of his own abilities and was highly skilled with a blade.

“Well, hello Brienne,” Jaime said without even looking back as his sword grew brighter and his strength started to force Darkstar to give ground.

“Push forward a bit more. I want to get to the center.”

Jaime leaned into his attack, slowly forcing Darkstar back and allowing Brienne to advance further into the ballroom. Suddenly, a triumphant smile crossed Cersei’s face and Marillion crumpled to the floor. At the same time, Tormund found himself looking down into Biter’s eyes rather than directly across. He roared defiantly and brought his now more enormous paws up for a swipe.

“Hate to rush you, but it looks like this entire place is about to come down,” Loras said. The castle was indeed trembling at its foundations. The epicenter seemed to be midway between Dany and the Ice King. Their contrasting spheres of energy formed wild eddies of steam and hail, a reaction which appeared to have reached the point of no return.

“Loras, get out everyone who’s not super powered. Cersei, shield. Dad, another shield. Brienne, boost them. Rest of the team, fall back to the bubble!” Jaime ordered.

Brienne concentrated as hard as she could to link and reinforce the shields. Touching Cersei and Tywin seemed to help. Their protective bubble gradually grew large enough to encompass the entire team. Just as Dany crossed within the border, a blast of concussive force shook the castle. Everyone not within the shield was knocked unconscious, and a sizable chunk blew out of the walls and ceiling.

“See, I told you I could lead the team better than Robert,” Jaime said. His teammates rolled their eyes at his boastfulness, but they’d just defeated several supervillans, foiled a horrific experimentation scheme, and destroyed an evil lair. Plus, he was holding about six and a half feet of truth serum in his arms, so they let it slide this time.

 

Jaime and Cersei remained in the Keep’s lounge, each enjoying a nightcap of champagne. They had plenty on hand from Cersei’s now canceled wedding. Of all the day’s victories, having Robert agree that they should break their engagement was the sweetest to her. For Jaime, it was having his little brother be part of the family in a way he'd never been able to before.

“Are you sure putting Tyrion’s room so near Dr. Tarly’s is a bright idea? The good doctor is apt to wake up with a head full of strange experiments to plan,” Cersei said.

“I think he’d enjoy that, actually. Knowing Tyrion, though, he’ll switch up his room every once in a while as he gets to know a few of our teammates and administrative staff,” Jaime replied with a wink.

“He’s really the lucky one, you know? He doesn’t have to go on missions, just sit around the Keep drinking and talking. I demand a DNA test. He might be scamming us.”

Jaime laughed. “You know who really impressed me today?” he asked.

“Oh, let me guess, Brienne,” Cersei replied. She’d been at the top of Jaime’s thoughts for days.

“She used her power so well for her first battle! I really like her. I mean, I know she’s no beauty. I feel so close to her, though. I think I might even be falling-”

“Oh no, you don’t! I’m not letting you claim her. I want her. She says she’s straight, but I think I can turn her.”

“Hey, I’m already dating her. In fact, I brought her to _your_ wedding rehearsal dinner. That’s got to count double.”

“That doesn’t count at all; it turned into a melee. Besides with my engagement off, I think I deserve at least a rebound f-”

Jaime held up a hand so Cersei would shush. The twins exchanged perturbed glares.

Jaime roared, “BRIENNE, I KNOW YOU’RE OUT THERE SOMEWHERE.”

“Sorry, just getting a midnight snack,” came faintly from the kitchenette.

“We have got to figure out her radius of effect,” Cersei muttered, not meeting Jaime’s eyes.

“Yes, I’ll tell Tarly to make that a top priority,” he replied, gaze also averted.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and for all the enthusiastic comments! I hoped you enjoyed arc one! (Does that imply I've got further arcs in mind? Uh, is a character alive if you don't see a body?)


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